PSY102 Final Exam Flashcards
Mental Activities and/or processing of information that includes: learning, memory, perception, language and communication, decision making, and beliefs and attitudes describes what cognitive process?
Thinking
The ability to reach learning, problem-solving, or instructional goals through optimal use of mental resources describes which cognitive trait?
Cognitive Efficiency
A systematic error in thinking that occurs when people are processing and interpreting information in the world around them and affects the decisions and judgements that they make describes which cognitive trait? This cognitive trait can influence thinking, memory, and learning.
Cognitive Bias
_______________, is a mental short-cut that we use when estimating probabilities. When we are trying to assess how likely a certain outcome is, we often make decisions by assessing how similar it is to an existing mental prototype.
Representative Heuristic
What is an example of a Representative Heuristic?
If an individual is shy, reserved or logical upon first meeting we might assume that they are introverted and major in math. Any example here is fine, as long as it matches the idea.
“The naturally occurring frequency of a phenomenon in a population” describes which principle?
Base Rate
Our tendency to use information that comes to mind quickly and easily when making decisions about the future describes which mental shortcut?
Availability Heuristic
What is an example of Availability Heuristic?
When considering two employees for a promotion, John and Jane, you remember that Jane accidentally made a major mistake earlier this year. Although Jane has otherwise performed excellently, your decision to promote her or not is heavily influenced by your memory of the event.
Our tendency to look back at an unpredictable event and think it was easily predictable describes which cognitive bias?
Hindsight Bias
Looking for information that confirms your belief system and minimizing information that doesn’t describes which cognitive bias?
Confirmation Bias
Which cognitive bias causes us to rely too heavily on the first piece of information we are given about a topic? Provide an example of this bias.
Anchoring Bias. An example of anchoring bias occurs when we are gift shopping for a loved one. We see a beautiful necklace for $100 but that is too far out of our budget. We then see a pair of earrings for $75, this is also out of our budget but is cheaper than the necklace.
Our knowledge and ideas about objects, actions, and characteristics that share core properties describes what?
A Concept (e.g., a dog)
What is the difference between an algorithm and a heuristic?
An algorithm is a step-wise procedure for solving a specific problem in a finite number of steps, the result of an algorithm is predictable and reproducible given the same parameters. Whereas a heuristic is an educated guess which serves as a guide for subsequent explorations.
When you persist in approaching a problem in a way that has worked in the past but is clearly not working now you are stuck in…?
A Mental Set
Which mental set describes difficulty perceiving an object being use for something other than what it was designed for?
Functional Fixedness
Salience of surface similarities describes what cognitive bias?
We tend to focus on the surface-level properties of a problem and ignore the similarities between problems that may help us to better solve them. For example, the similarities between a doctor removing a tumor and a military officer capturing a base.
Using concepts to understand objects or events that we’ve never encountered before describes what cognitive process?
Categorization
What is the hierarchical structure of categorization?
Super-ordinate (i.e., animal)
Basic-level (i.e., dog)
Sub-ordinate (i.e., pug)
A knowledge base that represents relations between concepts in a network describes which cognitive process? Provide an example.
Semantic network. An example would include the relationship between eggs and bacon (i.e., breakfast foods).
Concepts we have stored in memory about how certain actions, objects and ideas relate to each other and is the result of categorization describes which cognitive process?
Schema
Define Language
A largely arbitrary system of communication that combines symbols (such as words or gestural signs in rule-based ways to create meaning.
The smallest units of sound that every language contains describes which aspect of language?
Phonemes
The smallest meaningful unit of speech describes which aspect of language?
Morphemes. Can be bound morphemes (prefixes) or free morphemes (stand-alone words)
Grammatical rules that govern how words are composed into meaningful strings describes which aspect of language?
Syntax
What does “colorless green ideas sleep furiously” demonstrate?
Semantic errors. While the sentence follows phonological and syntactic rules, because it fails to follow semantic rules it does not have meaning.
Define Pragmatics
Pragmatics are the rules of using language for effective communication, they help people understand language contextually - this is especially useful when sentences have more than one deep structure.
Inferences that are not tied to specific words and phrases but instead arise from contextual factors and the understanding that conventions are observed in conversation describe which pragmatic principle?
Conversational Implicatures
Elements of communication that are not part of the content of language but are critical to determining its meaning.
Extralinguistic Information that includes facial expressions, tone of voice, body posture and gestures, etc.
Language variation used by a group of people who share geographical proximity or ethnic background.
Dialect
The view that all thought is represented verbally and as a result language defines our thinking.
Linguistic Determinism
The view that characteristics of language help to share our thought process, but do not necessarily define it.
Linguistic Relativity
Define Cognitive Economy
Cognitive Economy allows us to simplify what we attend to and keep the information we need for decision making to a manageable minimum.
Distinguish between concepts and schemas, and explain how categorization plays a role.
We use categorization to group concepts into a schematic network. For example, we define the concept of dog as having four legs, a tail, and barking and put all dog breeds into a schematic network for easy access and identification.
What are the components of language?
Phonemes, Morphemes, Phrases, Sentence, Syntax, and Semantics.
A complicated system to process, store, and retrieve information over time describes what cognitive process?
Memory
Brief storage of perceptual information before it is passed to short-term memory describes what stage of memory?
Sensory Memory
What are the four components of working memory?
Working memory is a set of memory procedures used to make sense of, modify, interpret, and store information in short-term memory that include:
1. Episodic Buffer
2. Visuospatial Sketchpad
3. Phonological Rehearsal Loop
4. Executive Control System
A type of sensory memory that applies to vision and lasts about 1-3 seconds describes which concept of memory?
Iconic Memory
A type of sensory memory that applies to auditory information and lasts about 4 seconds describes which concept of memory?
Echoic Memory
The ability to vividly recall visual sensory inputs describes which concept of memory?
Eidetic Memory
When information is stored, but not accessible, it is the result of which concept of memory?
Interference
What is the difference between proactive and retroactive interference?
Proactive interference involves interference with the acquisition of new information due to previously learned information. Retroactive interference is the inability to recall old information due to the acquisition of new information.
Chunking
Organizing information into meaningful groups, allowing us to extend the span of short-term memory.
What is Maintenance Rehearsal?
Repeating stimuli in their original form to retain them in short-term memory (i.e., repeating phone numbers back to ourselves)
What is Elaborative Rehearsal?
Linking stimuli together in a meaningful way to improve retention of information in short-term memory (i.e., linking two concepts together with an image - parietal lobe determines balance because Gemma is clumsy)
What are the levels of processing?
Depth of transforming information, which influences how easily we remember it - there are 3 levels:
- Visual
- Phonological
- Semantic
What is the primacy and recency effect?
The tendency to remember concepts learned first/early and concept learned last/late (i.e., in a list of words, you are most likely to remember the first few and last few read)
What is the Serial position curve?
Graph predicting both primacy and recency effects .
What type of memory concerns the recollection of events in our lives?
Episodic Memory
A part of long-term memory where prior knowledge or experience is encoded and stored and can be accessed when needed defines which concept of memory?
Explicit Memory
A part of long-term memory that influences prior knowledge or experience on behavior, regardless of whether the person is aware of these influences or not described which concept of memory?
Implicit Memory
Define Procedural Memory
Procedural Memory concerns our ability to recall previously learned motor skills and habits.
A type of implicit memory that allows us to identify a stimulus more easily or more quickly after we have encountered similar stimuli describes which concept of long-term memory?
Priming.
Define conditioning in learning.
Conditioning is a form of learning where a given stimulus or signal becomes increasingly effective in evoking a response or a response occurs with increasing regularity in a well-specified and stable environment. The type of reinforcement used will determine the outcome.
A type of implicit long-term memory about familiar, repetitive objects or stimuli is…?
Habituation
What are context-dependent and state-dependent retrieval?
context-dependent learning identifies superior recall when the external context of the original memories matches the retrieval context; state-dependent learning identifies superior retrieval of memories when under the same physiological influences or state as during encoding.
What is retrograde amnesia?
Retrograde amnesia is the inability to retrieve events that occurred before a given time (i.e., Lindsay Lohan in a Holiday Fall)
What is anterograde amnesia?
Anterograde amnesia is the inability to transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory, as such, it is impossible to form new memories (i.e., 50 first dates)
What is the difference between field memories and observer memories?
Field memories involve remembering events from the points of the view that occupied that actual experience; observer memories are an autobiographical memory that one remembers from the perspective of an outside observer.
What are the 7 sins of memory?
- Suggestibility: misleading information, leading questions, and suggestions can increase the likelihood of memory altercation.
- Misattribution: assigning memories to incorrect sources or mistaking what we imagined as real (i.e., dream)
- Bias: our schemas can bias our memories (i.e., stereotypes)
- Transience: memories fade over time
- Persistence: memories that linger, even if we don’t want them to
- Blocking: temporary inability to access information
- Absentmindedness: lapse in attention, memory wasn’t properly encoded
What is salience?
Salience is the idea that things that are unique, colorful, bright, or unexpected are likely to attract attention and more likely to be remembered as a result.
What is a Flashbulb memory?
A vivid and emotional memory of an unusual event that people believe they remember very well due to salience and over-confidence; however, they may not remember as well as they think.
What are some obstacles to problem solving?
Obstacles to problem-solving can include:
- Salience of surface similarities
- Mental sets
- Functional fixedness
A cognitive process that allows people to accurately identify the source of a memory is known as…?
Source Monitoring
Attitude change that occurs over time when we forget the source of information is known as…?
The sleeper effect
Attitude change that occurs over time when we forget the source of information is known as…?
The sleeper effect
Define Schema
Organized knowledge structures or mental models stored in memory.
Describe the Pegword Method
Is a type of mnemonic for better encoding and storage, see below:
- one is a bun
- two is a shoe
- three is a tree
- four is a door
Describe the Method of Loci
Is a type of mnemonic for better encoding and storage that uses imagery of place to retrieve information in sequential order.
What are the six principles of scientific thinking?
- Ruling out Rival Hypothesis
- Correlation is not Causation
- Falsifiability
- Replicability
- Extraordinary Claims
- Parsimony
The school of psychology that focuses on identifying the basic elements of structures of psychological experience was known as…?
Structuralism
Which school of psychology believed that natural selection leads to organisms that are adapted to their environment, including their behavior?
Functionalism
Which school of psychology focused on observable behaviors and actions to explain the psychology of the mind?
Behaviouralism
The tendency to cling to one’s initial belief even after receiving new information that contradicts or disconfirms the basis of that belief is known as…?
Belief perseverance
Define Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, and practices that are unstable and incompatible with scientific methods of thinking.
A controlled study in which an independent variable is manipulated to determine a causal relationship with a dependent variable is known as…?
An Experimental design
What is a Correlational design study?
A Correlational design examines the extent to which two variables of interest are associated - the strength of the correlation can be seen in a scatterplot and measured between -1 and +1.
When researchers observe and describe variables of interest as they naturally exist, with no manipulation of variables, what study design are they using?
Observational design
The independent variable is…?
The variable the experimenter manipulates.
Statistics that show the extent to which research findings can be generalized to the population are known as…?
Inferential Statistics
A measure of central tendency that quantifies how dispersed the data is relative to the mean is called…?
Standard Deviation
What is an Action Potential?
The change in electrical potential associated with the passage of an impulse along the membrane of a muscle or nerve cell.
Which component of the peripheral nervous system regulates involuntary physiological processes?
Autonomic Nervous System
What is the Amygdala responsible for?
It is thought to be our “monster detector” and processes fearful and threatening stimuli.
What are the Basal Ganglia?
the Basal Ganglia are part of the cerebral cortex and they consist of millions of nuclei. Abnormalities are linked to Tourette’s and Parkinson’s disease.
What is the Cerebellum responsible for?
The Cerebellum controls balance and monitors movement, helping us to learn motor skills. It also is involved in coordinating sensory information when problem-solving.
Which tomography devices uses multiple x-rays to construct 3-D images?
Computerized tomography scan (CT)
What is depolarization?
Depolarization occurs when the negative internal charge of the cell becomes temporarily more positive, resulting in an action potential.
The anterior part of the brain, that includes the cerebral hemispheres, the thalamus and hypothalamus is called what..?
The Forebrain
The posterior part of the brain that includes most of the brain stem and cerebellum is called what…?
The Hindbrain
The brain system that regulates emotion and memory and includes the cingulate gyrus, hypothalamus, thalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus is called what..?
The Limbic System
The difference in electrical potential between the interior and exterior of a biological cell is called…?
Membrane potential
A small, bean-shaped gland, situated at the base of the brain and is referred to as the “master gland” as it monitors and regulates many bodily functions through the hormones that it produces including growth and sexual development is known as…?
Pituitary Gland
Which form of tomography measures the consumption of glucose-like molecules to give a picture of neural activity?
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
What is the reticular formation?
An ‘ever-vigilant’ guard; a network of neurons to activate others. Involved in arousal, attention, and sleep (keeping sleep undisturbed). Damage can result in a coma.
Which part of the peripheral nervous system is associated with the voluntary control of the body movements via the skeleton muscles?
The Somatic Nervous System
The relay station for sensory information to the sense organs is called…?
The thalamus
What is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)?
TMS applies strong and quickly changing magnetic fields to the surface of the skull and interrupts functioning temporarily. Growing research has shown a use for treating treatment-resistant depression and other mental health conditions.
What are pseudo-scientific “proofs”?
Pseudoscientific “proofs” consist of statements, beliefs, and practices that are unstable and incompatible with scientific methods and thinking. They include:
- Anecdotes or personal beliefs
- Talk of “proof” instead of evidence
- Meaningless “psycho-babble”
- Lack of peer-review
- Overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypothesis
What are the 3 steps to sensory encoding?
- Sensation: sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor
- Transduction: conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential
- Perception: sensory information is organized, interpreted and consciously experienced
A receptor that detects information from outside the body using the traditional 5 senses is called…?
Exteroceptor
A receptor that detects sensations from within the body and has awareness of the internal workings is called…?
Interoceptor
A receptor found in the vestibular system that detects information about the body’s physical location is called…?
Proprioceptor
Who is considered the father of behavioralism?
John B. Watson
Who is considered the father of structuralism?
Wilhelm Wundt
Describe cues and strategies to improve encoding, storage, and retrieval in memory.
- Elaborate encoding (relating information to information you already know)
- Self-reference effect
- Depth processing (associating with a visual image)
- Encoding specificity - including context-dependent learning and state-dependent learning
- Distributed practice
The study of the effects of physical stimuli on sensory perception and mental states is called…?
Psychophysics
A research paradigm that seeks to understand the world’s physical properties and how we sense and perceive them is called…?
Signal Detection Theory
The ability to notice whether a stimulus is present or not is called…?
Sensitivity
What is Response Bias?
When an individual has a tendency to respond yes to stimuli even if they are unsure - it is believed to have developed as a survival response.
What is Absolute Threshold in Signal Detection Theory?
The intensity of a stimulus that allows an individual to just barely detect it 50% of the time. While this can differ from person to person, there are certain levels that people will detect most of the time (i.e., 1 tsp of sugar in 8oz of water)
What is Weber’s Law?
The size of a just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus (i.e., if you have 1 tsp of sugar in your coffee, you would need to have another tsp of sugar to notice the difference)
What is the difference between sensory adaptation and inattentional blindness?
Sensory adaptation occurs when you adapt to sensory information that is constant over time (i.e., nose blind), whereas inattentional blindness is when unimportant information is selectively filtered out (i.e., a baby is crying in a hot room, you are going to focus on the baby crying)
What are the three properties of light?
- Wavelength: perception of color
- Amplitude: brightness of color
- Saturation: purity of light
What are the three properties of sound?
- Amplitude: loudness
- Frequency: pitch
- Purity: timbre
What are cone cells?
Cone cells provide our color vision, there are three types that detects photons of light (red, green, blue) and is sensitive to different ranges of wavelengths. The color we receive depends on which cone cell responds and how large their response is.
- L cones: red
- S cones: blue
- M cones: green
Which color theory indicates that we can receive 3 types of colors (red, green, blue) and that the cones vary the ratio of neural activity?
Trichromatic Color Theory
What is Opponent Process Theory?
A theory of color that suggest that the way humans perceive colors is controlled by three opposing systems. We need four unique colors to characterize the perception of color: blue, yellow, red, and green. According to this theory, they are the three opposing channels in our vision.
A condition where people cannot identify or recognize the faces of other people is known as?
Prosopagnosia
What is top-down processing?
Conceptually driven processing influenced by beliefs and expectations and relies on our perceptual ability regarding prior knowledge, essentially an educated guess.
What is bottom-up processing?
Constructing the whole stimulus from its parts, using edge and feature detectors and combining output so that more elaborate patterns can be detected.
A small group of neurons within the hypothalamus that serve the brain’s clock mechanism through light information is called…?
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
Describe the 5 stages of sleep.
Stage 1: theta waves (5-10 minutes) included hypnagogic imagery and myoclonic jerks
Stage 2: high irregularity between frequency and amplitude that include k-complexes (sudden rise and fall in amplitude) and sleep spindles (sudden bursts of activity)
Stage 3 & 4: delta waves
REM Sleep: beta waves - it is as if the body is asleep but the mind is awake
What is Activation Synthesis Theory?
During REM sleep, the pons transmits random signals to the thalamus which relays information to the cerebral cortex. Dreams reflect the brain’s attempt to make sense of these random and internally generated neural signals.
What are the two theories concerning hypnosis?
- Role-playing theory: hypnotized individuals are playing a role based on expectations of behavior
- Dissociative Theory: two streams of awareness in parallel; focusing on the stream that is suggested
What is an unlearned behavior?
Unlearned behaviors consist of emotional or covert behaviors and of reflex activity of an over sort (i.e., when a toddler loses grip of a balloon and it blows a way, the child cries or when a drink is too hot and we reflexively move our hands away)
When a previously neutral stimulus has been paired with another stimulus that then elicits an automatic response this is known as…
Classical Conditioning
A neutral stimulus is…
one that produces no specific response other than focusing attention (i.e., the metronome)
An unconditioned stimulus is…
A stimulus that leads to an automatic response (i.e., the meat powder)
An unconditioned response is…
An automatic response to a stimulus (i.e., salivation)
A conditioned stimulus is…
A stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response (i.e., a metronome paired with meat powder)
A conditioned response…
Is an automatic response established by training to an ordinary neutral stimulus (i.e., salivation to the metronome)
What is the difference between spontaneous recovery and renewal effect?
Spontaneous recovery is established through acquisition and then subsequent extinction, after taking a break, the response may spontaneously re-emerge. A renewal effect occurs when a response has been established extinct but if you re-introduce the same stimulus, the behavior may re-emerge.
The creation of associations with more than one neutral stimulus is known as…
High-order Conditioning
A type of associative learning process (conditioning) through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment is known as…
Operant Conditioning
How is Operant Conditioning reinforced?
- Positive Reinforcement (‘add’): reinforcing the behavior by adding a stimulus (i.e., treat)
- Negative Reinforcement (‘remove’): reinforcing the behavior by removing a stimulus (i.e., removing an annoying noise)
- Positive Punishment (‘add’): decreasing the behavior by adding a stimulus (i.e., speeding ticket)
- Negative Punishment (‘remove’): decreasing the behavior by removing a stimulus (i.e., taking away a toy)
The Law of Effect states…
If a response, in the presence of a stimulus, is followed by a satisfying state of affairs the bond between the stimulus and response will be strengthened.
What is a discriminative stimulus?
A stimulus that increases the probability of a response because of a previous history of differential reinforcement in the presence of that stimulus (i.e., a child throws and tantrum and continues to throw one because parents give in - if parents try to stop, child may throw greater tantrums to get parents to cave in)
What is an Extinction Burst?
A temporary response pattern that will diminish and then stop as reinforcement for the behavior no longer follows the voluntary action. This part of operant conditioning theory predicts when and how voluntary behaviors will increase or decrease depending on the outcome they produce.
What is fixed ratio?
In schedules of reinforcement, a fixed ratio is where a response is reinforced only after a specific number of responses (i.e., every 3rd response a reward is given)
What is a fixed interval?
In schedules of reinforcement, a fixed interval is when reinforcement is given to a desired response after a specific (predictable) amount of time has passed (i.e., salary for a job - depending on how much you work, size of the paycheck may differ but you know you will get paid bi-weekly)
What is variable ratio?
In schedules of reinforcement, a variable ratio is when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses (i.e., lottery tickets)
What is a variable interval?
In schedules of reinforcement, a variable interval is when reinforcement is provided after a random (unpredictable) amount of time has passed and following a specific behavior being performed (i.e., restaurant inspection)
Describe how monocular and binocular cues are used in depth perception.
Depth perception arises from a variety of depth cues. These are typically classified into binocular cues that are based on the receipt of sensory information in three dimensions from both eyes and monocular cues that can be represented in just two dimensions and observed with just one eye.
Explain the current model of sensation and perception and its three principles.
The current model of sensation and perception understands that 1) sensory systems are hierarchically organized, 2) sensory systems are functionally segregated, and 3) however, there is parallel processing - analysis can happen simultaneously for a signal and with multiple pathways
Explain how, and for what purposes, the sense of smell can be used by humans, animals, and plants.
Memory formation, social organization, mating purposes, food sources.
What is Skinner’s Box?
A chamber that isolates the subject from the external environment and has a behavior indicator such as a lever or button. When the animal pushes the level or button, the box is able to deliver reinforcement of the behavior (such as food or a noise) - the noise is typically associated with the reinforcement.
